In 2025, fire departments serving Kingsport responded to 625 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $825K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 42% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,904 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $15.6M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 454 | — | |
| 2022 | 600 | +32.2% | |
| 2023 | 611 | +1.8% | |
| 2024 | 614 | +0.5% | |
| 2025 | 625 | +1.8% |
For the 88 building fires Kingsport departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,546 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outside area, other | 314 | 20.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 147 | 9.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 142 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 136 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 133 | 8.6% | |
| 6 | Other | 89 | 5.8% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 74 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 43 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 40 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 37 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 391 | 25.3% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Kingsport mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 666 | 43.1% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 107 | 6.9% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 104 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 100 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 89 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 83 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 63 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 63 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 48 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 30 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 193 | 12.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Kingsport departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 54% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $825,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kingsport sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
36 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 3 | |
| 20-29 | 8 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 9 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 60,748 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 7,400 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,964 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,539 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,300 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,040 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,943 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,765 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 2,738 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,402 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,200 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,185 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 2,115 | 42.0 mi |
Top 10 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Tennessee cities with population within ±25% of Kingsport. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Kingsport.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.